This article is a bit long, but worth the read if you have or ever want to have children. Personally, I am on the “better safe than sorry” side of the argument but I was always of the opinion that people should be free to make their own choices on this issue. The piece brings up a good point that I hadn’t thought of before, and that is a lesson that can and should be applied to everything in life- it’s never just “my life”, what I do affects everyone around me.
I have a few friends who have chosen not to vaccinate their babies right away with the idea that they might (probably will) change their minds later when their kids get older. For a family who is able to keep the child at home, I can see how this would be the best of both worlds. Not only are you not exposing your child to these diseases by them being around other kids (daycare or school), but you are allowing their immune systems to develop a little more before you inject these vaccines into them.
For most of us, though, our children go to daycare and we put them in the nursery at church where they are exposed to all sorts of germs and childhood antics. It was a requirement for her daycare that Aubrey be vaccinated and honestly, it never even crossed my mind to opt out of these shots (since she’s in a home daycare I don’t think I could have, actually). It was very hard to watch her fat little thighs get poked with those needles and I hated how much she cried. She had a bit of a fever afterwards and was fussy, but it was nothing near the fits she throws when she’s cutting a tooth, let me tell you what!
I don’t know a lot about all the things that these vaccines are being linked to, like autism and asthma. I do know this- my sister and I both got all of our shots and we turned out fine, Aubrey is up to date on hers and she has never been sick with anything worse than an ear infection. There isn’t any science linking these diseases to vaccinations that I can find, it’s all mostly opinion. One argument is that so many more cases have been reported- but hasn’t awareness and education about things like autism been heightened so much that people are catching it earlier? Couldn’t THAT be the reason these cases have spiked?
Also, I get my dog vaccinated because I’d like to keep her around as long as possible, and my sister can share the horror stories of poor animals who contract diseases that could have been easily avoided. My dog can’t tell me what’s wrong with her if she’s sick, kind of like my baby- so why not just ward off all that frustration and pain by blocking the sickness from ever getting to them?
I’m not trying to tell anyone what they should do or saying you are harming your child if you don’t choose to vaccinate them. What I do know is this- if I found out that there was a kid in her daycare who hadn’t been innoculated and had no plans to do so, I’d probably find Aubrey another daycare. Now, this is JUST MY OPINION, not a judgment, but I do see it as a little selfish on the parent’s part to not vaccinate their kids when they go to school and then throw them in with a bunch of other kids to spread the disease if they ever got it. I know that Aubrey probably wouldn’t catch it since she has been protected, but still. The risk is there. And I have researched a bit (not a ton, but enough to solidify my decision) on the toll it takes on their little bodies if they DO get these diseases, and the worst case scenarios are horrifying. Paralysis, deafness, seizures and other things could result from childhood diseases such as polio and measles that are routine when it comes to getting shots.
I mainly posted this article because it is great at showing both sides to the story. And I’d love to hear YOUR opinion on the matter. Not to change anyone’s mind, but to see where everyone is coming from. Dialogue is good- so start talking!
UPDATE: Check out this blog to get more info on the side of those who choose not to vaccinate their children. Thanks Melissa for the link!
I’m all for preventive measures. And, American universities do not allow students to matriculate if they aren’t vaccinated for a slew of diseases.
Would you have your daughter vaccinated for things that involve the reproductive system? Or would you let her make that choice when she’s hit junior high.
I like the idea of pet vaccines.
I had a friend with a family member who contracted meningitis in college- she got sick and two days later she was dead because it went to her spine. I’m all for preventing that senselessness.
I have a while to worry about that mess though, she is only a year old. 
Thanks for the comment.
As for reproductive vaccinations (wow, junior high? I didn’t even understand reproduction when I was in junior high!), I am assuming you mean Gardisil, the HPV vaccine. This protects against some cervical cancers and HPV- which is a sexually transmitted disease. Given the morals with which I intend to raise my daughter, I hope this won’t be necessary. I remember my rebellion as a teenager though, so if it came to that of course I would authorize a vaccination. I would hope the fear of what she was vaccinating against would be enough to stop that behavior though!
Gardisil…yep, that’ll be the one. A friend of mine was jumping for joy when the FDA approved it. Not that she would feel safe in ‘going to town’ but more as added protection against not just the disease itself but also from potential partners that are less than honest (or aware for that matter) about their own medical conditions.
She mentioned that there was talk about making it part of the shots-package along with tetanus and the like. “If you give it along with tetanus & whatever else you give at age 11, it won’t be so strange to the girl or the parents or anyone. And it’ll be preventative. But for it to be mandatory, costs have to go way way down, and additionally, we don’t know about efficacy after 5 years.”
But I think there’s still a stigma. If she’s not yet hit puberty, and she asks why she must get vaccinated, all the other shots can be explained away without making her feel, “well I’m never gonna do this that or the other so I don’t need it.”
How would parents even begin to explain why? “I’m sure you will be careful, but some girls and some boys lie; and you could get raped.”
I wouldn’t want to hear that from a parental figure.
The contagious factor of something not related to nether regions is motivation enough because one cannot control that kind of exposure. With an STD, one could say, “I’m never gonna do any of that so I don’t need that shot,” which is perhaps a little ridiculous.
“You say that now, Gertrude, when you’re 10 years- old. Wait ’till you’re 14 or 17.”
When it’s an option to someone at least the age of 17, then there is less of a stigma because the female choosing to get it knows it’s a preventive for something she’s going to do or will very likely do.
When Angel and I have kids, we’ll probably go the vaccination route, but I plan to research first. I want to choose the safest possible vaccines with the fewest side effects. I still plan to do some “green” health care alongside it. If there’s anything I learned from the time I got sick, it’s that God gave us medicine to work alongside natural healthcare options. There is a lot to be said for vaccinating your children AND providing them with a healthy home environment. I think the autism and asthma come more from an abundance of exposure to chemicals, not just from shots. Look at all the chemicals we use in home cleaning, pools, food, etc.
As for the reproductive vaccines, they scare me because we don’t know the long-term effects yet. I’m glad there will be a good 15-20 years of research before I have to make that decision for my kids.
You make good points, about things happening out of her control. I suppose if it was part of a packaged deal it would be easier to explain as part of her shots. Still, I hope she is never in a position to have to worry about that.
I’m sure by the time she reaches junior high it will be more researched and probably part of the package.
I haven’t found any good empirically based research showing a clear connection between vaccinations and Autism. Hope that helps.
just for clarification:
american universities do allow unvaccinated students to attend classes/live on campus. the same state exemptions apply to colleges and universities as apply to elementary, junior, and senior high schools.
my husband recently applied to arapahoe community college in colorado to attend their mortuary science program, and they sent him information stating that he had to get the hepatitis B series as well as tetanus. he submitted his religious/philosophical exemption form, and never heard anything more about it.
[...] 12, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized — Jessica @ 11:06 am Tags: vaccinations I had a post on here a while back about the debate of vaccinating your child. To recap, I do vaccinate Aubrey [...]